Marketing

IFC and Marc Maron Overshare Their Way to Success

Comedian Marc Maron has no problem expressing himself. "Can you hold on a second," he asks me during our phone call. "I have to deal with some bullshit." The "bullshit" Maron is talking about relates to some drama surrounding the promotion of his new show, Maron, which premieres on IFC on May 3, 2013.

As with most things in his life, the situation indirectly ties into his social media personality. Maron has more than 200,000 followers on Twitter and a big following with his podcast, "WTF with Marc Maron." Part of his appeal as a personality is his willingness to put it all out there on the Internet.

"I live on Twitter," Maron tells me. "It's a satisfying and immediate way to get stuff out there." Still, sometimes, he concedes. "those engagements get a little ugly."

Maron isn't afraid to fire back at his critics or trolls. This goes against one of the basic tenants of social media behavior for a public figure, but for Maron, it actually works.

"Marc has a very authentic and unfiltered way of sharing information," says Blake Callaway, IFC's SVP of marketing. "When it came time for us to do promotion for the show, it became clear that our best way to do that would be to just let Marc be Marc."

In fact, it was Marc "being Marc" that helped inspire the entire social aspect of the campaign. Take this tweet from February:

Callaway saw this tweet and immediately knew that this was the type of humor and style that needed to be part of the outreach and promotion for the show.

Thus, IFC settled on a tagline for Maron: "He's Got Issues. Sharing Isn't One of Them"

What's interesting is that although social media is at the core of the campaign, the campaign doesn't just live on social and digital platforms. The network is doing print, radio and TV spots. The print ads are inspired (and in some cases replicated) directly from Maron's Twitter feed.

Check it out:

IFC worked with Twitter on the look and feel of the ad and got them onboard. The network will also purchase Sponsored Tweets in the lead-up to the premiere as well as sharing Maron's tweets on their own Twitter accounts. In addition, Maron will take some time to promote the show (as well as his upcoming book) on his own Twitter account.

"I had to warn my Twitter followers, 'Prepare yourselves for a barage of tweets promoting my new show and book. We'll get through this together," Maron told me.

The print and TV spots for the campaign are longform — running 60 seconds rather than the standard 30 or 15 seconds — and feature Maron talking about the types of things he usually tweets about. These observations aren't the typical preview for a TV show, but they provide the audience with the type of humor and sensibility that the show itself contains.

Social Media Is a Requirement for Modern Celebrity

For Maron, using social media — and in turn, having the network use the following he's built himself — is the only natural move when it comes to promoting his show.

"We have no other outlet," he says, referring to social media. "Unless you are so huge, you have to fend for yourself out there. How will people know what you are doing unless you have a presence and are out there," he continues.

"What's happening now is unprecedented. Most of the promotional outlets that people used to goto to get a pulse of what's going on has been marginalized. There has been a huge shift in the industry and its putting the responsibility on your [the artist] shoulders. If you want people to know what you're doing, you have to use social."

Of course, one of the caveats of being so accessible is that Maron has to respond to critics as well as fans. "If someone says something to me or about me and they have a lot of followers, I have to respond," Maron says. "I have to do damage control."

At the same time, Maron also has to deal with how to spend his time on social. "I tend to get off on [Twitter] in almost a druggish way. Jamming on Twitter and getting into a Twitter hole can be really satisfying." Still, he concedes that the social network isn't for everyone.

"I feel bad that I neglect Facebook," he admits. "I shouldn't have an emotional investment with a social network — I know that — but I do."

Maron tends to neglect Facebook because his mother is there and it seems like more of a platform for "sharing photos and posting random things." Plus, he adds, "going to my page and posting became very complicated."

Maron isn't oblivious to the fact that not everyone is as socially connected as he is, however. "There's an assumption that because of all this intimacy that everybody is savvy," Maron admits. "It's easy to get sucked in and think that everyone can spend two or three hours in a Twitter hold like you do, but they don't."

That's why it's important that Maron and IFC focus outside of just traditional social channels — even if that's at the core of the campaign itself.

IFC is sponsoring podcasts, include "WTF with Marc Maron" and putting sponsored content on other parts of the web.

The network is also giving viewers a taste of the show before its debut, offering the second episode of the show for free via its website, as well as on iTunes and Video On-Demand. This is a strategy that has worked well with IFC before, including with Portlandia

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